Fort Myers little leaguers lose state title after red tape

A Fort Myers little league softball player is ruled ineligible to play resulting in the entire team being stripped of their state title.

Regional play was supposed to begin Thursday for the 13-year-old girls who sealed the deal on a state title Sunday with a win over a South Tampa Bay little league team.

It wasn't until two days later when Southeast Regional tournament officials alerted manager Justin Robbins that one player was not eligible to compete.

"Frustrating is probably not a strong enough word," Robbins said.

One girl on the roster lived outside the boundary for softball, but her brother lived within the boundary for baseball. Their family was granted a sibling waiver allowing the girl to compete for FMALL as long as her brother played baseball. The waiver relieves the burden of parents having to pick kids up from different leagues.

"I don't know how to put it into words how hard this was," said Don Overholser, FMALL president.

Overholser said three years ago when the waiver was extended, the boy was injured and was advised by his doctors to stop playing. A search by the regional tournament officials found no record of the boy on the rosters and declared that the waiver was void.

"Just through error of our own, the dots never got connected," Overholser said.

On the bus headed to Georgia to play in the regional tournament, the softball team was told to turn back – a moment forever etched on Robbin's mind, as he explained to his girls that they had lost their title.

"Probably one of the more difficult conversations I've had to have as a manager."

Overholser said the responsibility falls on him for having the issue go unnoticed for years. To the parents, he said they plan to pay closer attention to the red tape.

"Maybe we would've repeated this mistake again next year because you're still operating under the circumstances that everything is OK," Overholser said.

A visibly emotional Robbins said if there's one good thing that comes from the experience, it's learning how committed to one another the girls were.

"They were very disappointed, but the immediate response was if she can't go, none of us go," the manager said.

When asked if he would hesitate to have another player with exceptions play on his team, Robbins was candid and said maybe. In a perfect world, kids would not have to worry about the paperwork and could simply play.

"If the kids are willing to put in the work and dedicate themselves to make the right decisions, even outside of softball, I will let any kid play for me," Robbins said.

The Little League Tournament committee sent us the following statement:

"The Little League® International Tournament Committee has found that a Little League Softball tournament team player on the Fort Myers American Little League is not eligible for participation based on Little League International’s residency and school attendance eligibility requirements as outlined in Little League’s Official Regulations, Playing Rules, and Policies. Therefore, by rule, Fort Myers American Little League’s last game played shall be declared a forfeit and the team will no longer advance to the Little League Softball Southeast Regional Tournament. South Tampa Little League has been named the Little League Softball Florida State Champions and will compete in the Southeast Regional Tournament in Warner Robins, Ga."

The South Tampa Little League team lost Thursday 5-0 against Georgia Pioneer Little League.